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The article provides insights into the organisational dynamics of garment industry in Swaziland and Lesotho under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). It examines how the duration of AGOA, exchange rates, firms’ lifespan, accountability, trans-shipment, shell infrastructure, lower-end markets and work conditions affect effective participation from these two countries in the United States-Africa trade policy. The industry has attracted many investors from China and Taiwan. Some of the benefits of AGOA are visible in the value of garment exports to the US as well as in the thousands employments created for women. However, investors’ malpractices in the infant garment industry seriously compromise the ability of Swaziland and Lesotho to reap AGOA’s economic and social benefits. The article concludes that Swaziland and Lesotho take a peripheral part in AGOA rounds and their participation will remain marginal unless issues of control over the garment production chain are properly addressed.